Reggaeton Artist J Balvin to Talk About Immigration on Nickelodeon Show

Reggaeton artist J Balvin has something to say about immigration. He’s about to share it with American children on the Nickelodeon cable channel this week along with a few other personalities of the U.S. who have immigrated from other countries.

Balvin, a world top-selling artist from Colombia known as the Prince of Reggaeton, will appear on Nick News: Kids, Immigration and Equality on Thursday. According to Nickelodeon, the half-hour special will delve into compelling stories of immigrants, including young people and families who are searching for a better life in this nation.

The show will be hosted by CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas and showcase personal immigration stories and messages of hope from the Colombian singer and other featured guests such as comedian Samantha Bee from Canada, television host Padma Lakshmi from India and professional basketball player Ben Simmons from Australia. Also appearing on the children’s show will be Nancy Pelosi, the California congresswoman who is the current speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Every immigrant’s story is individual, and yet in the U.S, it is a collective experience many can relate to,” says Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson, vice president of news programming at Nickelodeon and executive producer of Nick News. She adds that more than 25 percent of children in the U.S. under the age of 18 have a parent or grandparent that is an immigrant. “As we take time to acknowledge the many contributions immigrants have made to the United States, Nick News: Kids, Immigration and Equality aims to platform the stories of these remarkable individuals and families to highlight our shared history and showcase that despite our perceived differences we are more alike than different,” says Laguerre-Wilkinson. 

Balvin is one of the biggest stars of reggaeton, a hybrid reggae and hip hop that’s in Spanish-speaking nations of the Caribbean region and whose influence has gone global. With five albums under his belt, including one with also reggaeton star Bad Bunny, Balvin is known for hits like “Ginza,” “6 AM,” “Ay vamos,” “Bobo”, “Safari”, “Sigo extrañándote” and “Mi gente,” with the latter topping the Global Top 50 on the music streamer Spotify and reaching one billion views on YouTube. His collaboration with Cardi B and Bad Bunny on the 2018 hit single “I like it” won him a nomination for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. His most recent album is Colores. 

Nick News: Kids, Immigration and Equality will start with the story of early immigration from Europe, detailing the hope for a better life that drove many families to permanently settle in the U.S. It will also talk about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and the “Dreamers.” The segment presents the powerful stories of three young community advocates, Luz Chavez-Gonzales of Gaithersburg, Maryland, Kamau Chege of Seattle, Washington, and Estefany Pineda of East Boston, Massachusetts, their search for the so-called “American dream.”

Enrique Acevedo, a 60 Minutes+ correspondent, will take viewers to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, a town that over 100 years ago it welcomed European immigrants which fueled its coal mining industry. Fast forward and the town faced challenges when some members of the community took issue with, and sought to stop Latino immigrants moving to the area in the late 1990s.  

However, Joe Maddon Jr., manager of the Los Angeles Angels, a Hazleton native, sought to turn the page on the divisiveness that overtook his community and help his town heal through the creation of the Hazleton Integration Project, HIP, a community-based center that aims to unite the multicultural residents of Hazleton by offering a myriad of programs, including English as a second language, a series of virtual STEM afterschool classes, sports programs and many others. The organization’s programs are highlighted through the stories of five kids whose families have emigrated to Hazleton from the Dominican Republic and who have found much-needed resources and a sense of community at HIP.

Additional segments include a mention of former President George W. Bush’s new book, Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants, which is a collection of 43 portraits of immigrants painted by Bush. It highlights the inspiring journeys of America’s immigrants and their contributions to the U.S.

Nick News: Kids, Immigration and Equality, the segment will air Thursday, June 17 at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT). Following its premiere on Nickelodeon, the show will be available on Nick.com, Nick App and Nick On Demand beginning June 18 and on the Nickelodeon YouTube channel on June 22. 

Featured Photo: J Balvin (Credit: kodeak01/Wikipedia)